The year was 1999 and the anarchists descended on Seattle to stop a meeting of the
World Trade Organization (WTO). We lived there at the time.

Floyd was working as a host at Hot Talk 570 KVI,located in downtown near the
“peaceful protests”of the meeting of WTO ministers. Seattle was excited because
it was an opportunity to show the new high tech Seattle of the 1990′s that
replaced the industrial Seattle of the 1970′s. The City was on the world’s
stage.

Early pictures of the protests reminded us of what you see currently camped
in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park. And as in the fall of 1999,the media is there to
catalogue the strange beliefs of those involved.

The Seattle protests were called a peaceful group of human rights
leaders,students,environmental groups,religious leaders,labor rights
activists’etc.,wanting fairer trade with less exploitation. Sounds like the
group down on Wall Street.

Liberal political leaders of the late 90′s were giving encouragement to the
protesters in a fashion similar to the current leaders Nancy Pelosi,Al Gore,and
Barack Obama are carrying water for the current park-based protesters.

Putin says U.S. is “parasite” on global economy

5:45pm EDT

By Maria Tsvetkova

LAKE SELIGER, Russia (Reuters) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States Monday of living beyond its means “like a parasite” on the global economy and said dollar dominance was a threat to the financial markets.

“They are living beyond their means and shifting a part of the weight of their problems to the world economy,” Putin told the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi while touring its lakeside summer camp some five hours drive north of Moscow.

“They are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar,” Putin said at the open-air meeting with admiring young Russians in what looked like early campaigning before parliamentary and presidential polls.

US President Barack Obama earlier announced a last-ditch deal to cut about $2.4 trillion from the U.S. deficit over a decade, avoid a crushing debt default and stave off the risk that the nation’s AAA credit rating would be downgraded.

The deal initially soothed anxieties and led Russian stocks to jump to three-month highs, but jitters remained over the possibility of a credit downgrade.

“Thank god,” Putin said, “that they had enough common sense and responsibility to make a balanced decision.”

But Putin, who has often criticized the United States’ foreign exchange policy, noted that Russia holds a large amount of U.S. bonds and treasuries.

“If over there (in America) there is a systemic malfunction,

this will affect everyone,” Putin told the young Russians.

“Countries like Russia and China hold a significant part of their reserves in American securities … There should be other reserve currencies.”

U.S.-Russian ties soured during Putin’s 2000-2008 presidency but have warmed significantly since his protégé and successor President Dmitry Medvedev responded to Obama’s stated desire for a “reset” in bilateral relations.

EARLY CAMPAIGNING?

Casually dressed in khaki trousers and a striped white shirt, Putin flew by helicopter to the tented camp as part of a string of appearances that are being closely watched in the run-up to the elections.

He did not say whether he plans a return to the Kremlin or will stand aside for Medvedev, his partner in Russia’s leadership tandem, to run for a second term.

But young people crowding round Putin, caught up in the campaigning spirit created by huge portraits of Putin hung from trees, were not shy about saying who they wanted as president.

“Russia’s next president will be small, bald and look like Putin,” 17-year-old Ilya Mzokov joked with reporters. Asked why Medvedev was not paying a visit to the summer camp, he said: “Only serious people come here.”

Youngsters chanted Putin’s name and applauded his remarks as he strolled round the camp, where US-style business seminars, extreme sports and political mudslinging were among the topics on offer.

Putin, whose macho image appeals to many Russians, briefly swung himself up the first half of a climbing wall, filmed by a gaggle of state television cameras.

Nashi, which means “Our People,” was created by the Kremlin to counter popular dissent after youth activism helped topple a pro-Moscow government in Ukraine’s 2005 Orange revolution.

The group has worked to spread a personality cult around Putin and regularly campaigns against Kremlin critics.

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Critics fear additional gay-oriented training would be an unnecessary added
burden for combat troops and encourage some to leave.

USDA officials have asked the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which
oversees all federal worker policies, to impose its gay-awareness programs on
all federal departments, according to an internal newsletter…

The push for the training is coming from Agriculture Secretary Thomas J.
Vilsack, former Democratic governor of Iowa. He has launched a department-wide
“Cultural Transformation” that includes the “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
[LGBT] Special Emphasis Program.”

The USDA’s senior training coordinator, Bill Scaggs, has developed a
sensitivity program far more extensive than the Pentagon’s training for the
anticipated lifting of the ban on open homosexuals in the ranks…

The Agriculture Department described its program in an internal newsletter,
“My USDA: A Progress Report for Employees on USDA’s Cultural
Transformation”…

The newsletter adds: “Future collaborations with OPM are planned, with the
ultimate goal of having LGBT Special Emphasis Programs across the federal
government”…

On attempts to change someone from gay to straight, the briefing says:
“Usually doesn’t work and may even be harmful. Can produce feelings of
depression, hopelessness, shame and anxiety. Some people become suicidal”…

Lead Story

I noticed a new game the blamestream media is playing this week. It’s the same game they played with Sarah Palin last week: Blame the victim. After a slew of Democrat leaders issued open threats against talk radio, conservative radio hosts rose up to defend themselves. And now, the BSM is deriding those who work in talk radio for inserting themselves into the Tucson massacre story and for having a “persecution complex.” No, really.

This week’s column also spotlights the repeated attempts by Red Queen open-borders radicals to insert themselves into the Tucson shooting rampage that had no more to do with illegal immigration than it did with talk radio.

There isn’t a shred of evidence that deranged Tucson massacre suspect Jared Loughner ever listened to talk radio or cared about illegal immigration. Indeed, after 300 exhaustive interviews, the feds “remain stumped” about his motives, according to Tuesday’s Washington Post. But that hasn’t stopped a coalition of power-grabbing politicians, progressive activists and open-borders lobbyists from plying their quack cure for the American body politic: government-sponsored speech suppression.

This week’s fashionable new media meme is to deride talk radio hosts for taking these speech-squelching threats seriously. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jay Bookman sneered at the “persecution complex” of conservative broadcasters who reacted to Slaughter and company. Politico’s Keach Hagey dismissed concerns about the Democrats’ chilling campaign against right-leaning media outlets and knocked conservative talkers’ “defensive posture.” (Sound familiar? This is the same tactic they used against Sarah Palin and all those on the right falsely accused of being accessories to the Tucson massacre: Attack ‘em. Attack ‘em for responding. Accuse the smear victims of playing the victim card. Repeat.)

Make no mistake: The Hate Speech Inquisition is real. And it’s being fought on all fronts. Last week, using the non-radio-inspired Tucson massacre as fuel, the National Hispanic Media Coalition called on the FCC to gather evidence for the left’s preconceived conclusion that conservative talk radio “hate speech” causes violence. It’s Red Queen science — sentence first, research validation later.

The head of the NHMC is Alex Nogales, who has filed more than 50 petitions to deny broadcast licenses and has led anti-corporate crusades to “force” broadcast stations across the country “to hire Latino reporters and anchors” and adopt “diversity initiatives.” Grabbing the Tucson shooting limelight, Nogales told Broadcasting and Cable magazine last week:

“We can’t stand there with our arms crossed and make like there isn’t a reason why this is happening. … We started this dialog(ue) in the last immigration debate four years ago. We could see that it was just out of control. It started with just an issue of immigration, then every pundit on radio and TV who wanted an audience started talking about it and started using the worst of language, and now it has spilled out into mainstream.”

Loughner’s wild Internet rants and creepy campus meltdowns clearly demonstrate that crazy doesn’t need a motive. But progressive censors need their bogeymen, and Nogales isn’t about to give them up for reality’s sake. The NHMC first filed a petition in October 2009 demanding that the FCC collect data, seek public comment and “explore options” for combating “hate speech” from staunch critics of illegal immigration. The petition followed on National Council of La Raza President Janet Murguia’s call for media outlets to keep immigration enforcement proponents off the airwaves “even if such censorship were a violation of First Amendment rights.”

The Praetorian Guards of civility keep telling us that “words matter.” Threats should be taken seriously, they insist. Except, of course, when those words and threats are uttered by those hell-bent on regulating their opponents’ discourse out of existence.

Since my last post concerning Jared Loughner and his past encounters with law enforcement, it appears that many people want and demand that my source for the information I posted be disclosed.

First and foremost, I struggled with ever writing the post I wrote. I had to source the puzzle pieces and vet the information with people who assured me they had first hand information regarding Jared Loughner. I wanted documentation. Unfortunately the mere possesion of the documentation would be a violation of HIPPA laws and the track back would be detrimental to the livelyhoods and lives of the people involved.

Anyone in Law Enforcement or Mental Health in Pima County that ever had contact with Mr. Loughner is now in bunker mode. Everyone is afraid of lawsuits down the road. They are evaluating their behavior and checking to make sure they followed all rules governing the care of Jared Loughner.

Lawfully some of the people that had knowledge of Mr Loughner could never come forward without subpoena by a lawful authority. Others are just too afraid.

It is my sincere hope that transparency in the investigation will prevail. We are dealing with very big issues that will affect the prosecution and defense of Loughner.

That is the only thing that should be of concern to law enforcement at the moment.

Recent financial headlines provide a remarkable glimpse into America’s future if we stay on the same track we are now. From Bloomberg news we learned: “US Stocks fluctuate amid concerns European debt crisis hasn’t run course.” Meanwhile, the IMF predicted that the “US national debt will soon reach 100% of GDP.” Sadly, the World’s, the United States’ and California’s (16% of the US Economy and the 9th largest economy in the world) financial prospects are far worse than those headlines recognize.

The US economy is nearing $15 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP) per year. The national debt it carries on the books is nearly that high and will certainly reach it, and far surpass it, within 2 years given the trillion dollar deficits that are predicted as far as the eye can see. Of course, off the books, in accounting that would make Enron blush, the US government has $75 trillion or more in long term unfunded liabilities. On a more short term basis consider this: the US Government revenues are running below $3 trillion dollars per year – yet its debt is over $13 trillion and growing. In other words, the existing US debt is 4 to 5 times its current revenue.

Imagine if you will, if your credit card debt was 4 times your current income and the income you are likely to earn in each of the next 4 years. There is not a bankruptcy attorney in the country that would not tell you that it is time to declare bankruptcy. For its part, California is projected to have unfunded liabilities as high as $600 billion or 6 ½ times it current revenues. Sadly for the US and California taxpayers, bankruptcy is simply not an option.

All of which brings us to the European debt crisis – which has anything but run its course. Indeed, German Chancellor Merkel said this about the recent bailout of Greece: “We didn’t do more than buy time . . .” to get their collective government houses in order. Meanwhile, USA Today, whose financial reporting is rather blunt at times, featured this headline: US “Investor fears ignite sell-off.”